Statistics:
Northmost township: T53N, R3W (Apostle Islands, Ashland County)
Eastmost township: T, R30E (Washington & Rock Islands, Door County)
Westmost township: T36N, R20W (northwestern Polk County)
Number of townships (full and partial):
Number of sections (full and partial):
Number of section corners (including quarter corners): approximately
Number of meander corners: approximately
Thomas Jefferson:
The concept for the PLSS was championed by Thomas Jefferson as part of his
goal to develop a nation of "yeoman farmers", each of whom would make a living
on 160 acres they owned themselves. The Federal Government would subdivide
its lands for tihs purpose. For a history, see the book "Measuring
America: How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled
the Promise of Democracy". -Andro Linklater -Walker and Co., 2002
Begun in Ohio:
While lands in the eastern states were irregularly partitioned and described
by "metes and bounds", the PLSS was begun in Ohio in 1785 and extended westward
through other unsurveyed lands to the Pacific Coast and Alaska. A series of
Principal Meridians
and Baselines control the surveys in parts of all of these states.
Non-PLSS areas in Wisconsin:
Small areas in Wisconsin that had been settled or granted prior to the PLSS
were not surveyed. Generally, these lands are a result of early French settlement
(e.g., Green Bay and Prairie du Chien) where long narrow lots with a bit of
water frontage were commonly established, or where land grants (e.g., Green
Bay area) or some Indian Reservations were established (e.g., Stockbridge).
Statehood:
When Wisconsin was admitted to the Union as state in 1848, PLSS field work
here had been underway for 17 years (while the area was part of the Michigan
Territory until 1836 and then the Wisconsin Territory), but it would take
almost 20 more years to complete.
State Capitol:
Wisconsin's Capitol building is said to be the only state capitol located
exactly on a section corner. (The common corner of sections 13,14, 23, and 24 of
T7N, R9E is said to be at the center of the Capitol rotunda).
School section:
Typically section 16 in each township was reserved to be used to support education
either as a school site and/or to generate construction funds from sale of the land.
This was sometimes called the "school section."
Humor:
Gene Shepard, the 19th-century creator of the fictitious Hodag, a fierce creature now
immortalized as the mascot of Rhinelander, claimed to have captured a specimen
in Section 37 of a township in the area. Of course, there never are more
than 36 sections in a PLSS township.
Civil towns:
PLSS townships (sometimes incorrectly called "towns") often cover the same
area as a civil Town (the form of local government for all areas not incorporated
into villages or cities). This is especially true in the southern half of
the state; in less-populated areas of the north, a civil town is often at
least 50 square miles and sometimes over 100. Civil towns are named (e.g.,
Town of Harrison, or Town of Springbrook), and a town always is completely
contained within a single county. The same town name may be used in multiple
counties (e.g., Town of Union). By contrast, while county boundaries often do
follow PLSS township lines, this is not always the case. Sometimes a water
body (e.g., Wisconsin River) separates two counties, but in other cases a township
is split across adjacent counties. For example, T39N R10E is divided between
Oneida and Vilas Counties.
Note that while the term "Civil Town", means a governmental unit for a large rural area. The more generic term "town" may be used casually to mean any small settlement regardless of whether that settlement is legally incorporated (e.g., a village or small city) or not.
Initial Point:
The "Initial Point" for Wisconsin's PLSS, along the Illinois border where
the 4thPrincipal Meridian heads off northward and the baseline extends west
the Mississipi River and east to Lake Michigan, has been marked with a special
monument. A nearby historical marker along State Highway 84 commemorates
the beginning of the PLSS in Wisconsin. The 4th Principal Meridian actually
begins in west-central Illinois.
State boundary:
Most of Wisconsin's boundary is defined by bodies of water: the Great Lakes
and St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers. There are four "straight" pieces of
boundary that cross land. The most of obvious is the southern boundary with
Illinois which follows a PLSS boundary. The north-south line bounding the
west sides of Douglas and Burnett Counties also follows a PLSS range line.
However, there are two other straight stretches of boundary that cut across at an angle the normal PLSS grid. These two lines, which join at a point of deflection in Lac Vieux Desert (the source of the Wisconsin River on the border with Upper Michigan), form the northern borders of three counties - parts of Forest and Iron, and all of Vilas. This situation results in partial PLSS sections all along that boundary
Minnesota:
East-central and north-eastern Minnesota has PLSS tiers and ranges extended
westward from Wisconsin. The balance of Minnesota is based on the 5th Principal
Meridian and a baseline far to the south, so when comparing across the Mississippi
River into south-eastern Minnesota, town numbers there are higher than those
for abutting towns in western Wisconsin. A number of other states are also
divided into areas each of which is controlled by a
different Principal Meridian.
By contrast, Wisconsin's PLSS is entirely referenced to the 4th Principal
Meridian.
Magnetic affects:
PLSS surveys were done under different Earth magnetic field conditions than
exist today. It is possible to determine (approximately) the Earth's magnetic
field in prior decades, so one could reconstruct the declination at any particular
location at the time that PLSS surveyors were operating in an area. Our
section on magnetic declination
explains how this is done.
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